1983 Scorecard Vote

Coal Slurry Pipeline

House Roll Call Vote 339

Issues: Dirty Energy, Water

The vote is on final passage of the Coal Pipeline Act (HR 1010), which was designed to make it easier for coal slurry pipeline companies to obtain railroad and other rights-of-way that are necessary for construction of the pipelines. Coal slurry pipelines would mix crushed western coal with vast quantities of water (about 300 gallons per ton of coal) in order to move it to power plants as many as 1,500 miles away in the Midwest and East. Because the scheme would consume billions of gallons of scarce western water every year, it was opposed by a number of farmer's organizations, as well as environmentalists. Moreover, the coal slurry process creates tremendous amounts of highly polluted waste water containing toxic metals, acid compounds and other dangerous chemicals. No water quality standards for slurry discharge water have been adopted by state or federal agencies, and cleanup technology has not been adequately demonstrated.

The Coal Pipeline Act was rejected, 182-235; September 27, 1983. NO was the pro-environmental vote.